WASHINGTON – Environmental advocacy groups are accusing Colorado U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn of making a false statement this week during a congressional hearing on a bill to limit the president’s authority to designate federal land as national monuments.

Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, said he never was invited to any meetings to discuss a proposal to designate Browns Canyon as a national monument. The canyon in Chaffee County, west of Colorado Springs, received the designation in 2015.

However, photos and a Twitter message from Lamborn show he met with former Sen. Mark Udall in Nathrop on April 15, 2013, to discuss what he called “his Browns Canyon proposal” for national monument designation. 

During the House Natural Resources Committee hearing Wednesday, Lamborn said, “I had a designated national monument in my congressional district under Barack Obama – Browns Canyon – and there’s not local consensus. They had a meeting inviting people to it. I don’t remember being invited. How would you like to hear about a meeting on consensus that you’re not even invited to?”

He made the statement while arguing in favor of a bill that would revise the Antiquities Act, which presidents have used since 1906 to set federal lands off limits from industrial development. The properties include national parks such as Zion National Park in Utah, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona and Olympic National Park in Washington state.

The Obama Administration invoked the Antiquities Act 37 times to designate 553.6 million acres of land and water areas as national monuments.

Republican members of Congress and industry leaders complained too much land was set aside, even to the point of limiting economic opportunity in nearby communities.

Some environmentalists say Lamborn’s statement during the hearing Wednesday was more than a simple inaccuracy.

Lamborn also said, “Let’s go back to the system of consensus, where we pass a bill designating something as a national monument in the National Park Service.”

Scott Braden, wilderness and public lands advocate for the environmental group Conservation Colorado said, “The community tried to do it that way for many years and he obstructed that route.”

Browns Canyon was designated as a national monument after a request by Governor John Hickenlooper and other Colorado political leaders to President Barack Obama, Braden said. They made the request only after seeking community support.

He added that the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management participated in another community meeting on Dec. 6, 2014 to discuss the designation of Browns Canyon as a national monument.

“Rep. Lamborn sent a representative who read a statement in opposition,” Braden told Colorado Politics. “I remember because the audience booed him.”

Lamborn’s office did not respond to phone calls and email messages asking for a response by Friday evening.